We’ve asked some of our writers to preview a few of this year’s festivals that they’re most looking forward to; to offer some idea of what the event is about, and to pick out a few bands and artists that they’re most excited about seeing perform. In this installment, we take a look at the End of the Road affiliated No Direction Home; the newly revamped Field Day and its sibling event The Apple Cart Festival; the inaugural Nova Festival, and Somerset’s Sunrise Celebration.

No Direction Home – by Nick Cowan

Website / Tickets

No Direction Home is a brand new festival from the makers of the much-loved End Of The Road (sadly, nothing to do with Boyz II Men). Expect everything that EOTR is renowned for – great acts, atmosphere and general all-round pleasantness, and all taking place on 8th–10th June in Sherwood Forest. There’s plenty to (friar) tuck into with highlights such as the multifaceted Andrew Bird, the folktastic Dirty Three, Richard Hawley, The Low Anthem and Veronica Falls, but the real draw is the promise of stress free festival-going. Like its sister festival, No Direction Home is that precious thing: a manageable size that makes discovering music an achievable treat, rather than the arduous chore it can seem when drudging round some of the bigger festivals. On top of all that, there’s a bunch of non-music stuff to do, including literature and comedy areas, a cinema and a host of fine foods and ales to sip by the campfire. Roll on summer.

Nova Festival – by Jimmy Blake

Website / Tickets

‘There has never been a worse time to start your own music festival,’ warns the blogosphere – and it’s probably right. But neither the collapse of established festivals nor an impending summer of ‘God save the Queens’ have stopped the intrepid organisers of new festival Nova from doing just that. With the South Downs as a backdrop, Nova promises a diverse range of performance from film and theatre to comedy and poetry all without even a hint of over crowding. Combine all this with hot tubs, an on onsite pub and musical highlights like Jessie Ware, Ghostpoet and tUnE-yArDs and its no surprise that early bird tickets have already sold out. Grab your wellies, because Nova is ready prove everybody wrong.

Field Day – by Sam Cleeve

Website / Tickets

This year’s Field Day should see the festival undergo something of a fresh start. Despite coming under heavy criticism in previous years for herding punters into a space the size of your nan’s backyard (perhaps unfairly – room has been restricted by the £8m Heritage Lottery refurbishment of Victoria Park), this year they’ve been able to expand the site once again. The lineup is as strong as ever – whistling polymath Andrew Bird and Balkan kingpins Beirut head up proceedings, while you can expect your buzz-band quote to be filled by Grimes and Theme Park, and the electronic side of things to be taken care of by the likes of Rustie and SBTRKT. With further enticement in the form of Scandinavian wunderkinds When Saints Go Machine and Brooklyn comic book sage Jeffrey Lewis, there’s little reason to stay away.

The Apple Cart Festival – by Russell Warfield

Website / Tickets

With Field Day having carved itself a robust reputation for providing incredible music in the heart of London one Saturday a year, it’s no wonder that it’s started to bleed into the Sunday as well. Although the park will be the same (albeit with a few empty plastic cups picked up, I’m imagining), The Apple Cart Festival does a great job of distinguishing itself from its sister event, cultivating a far more family-friendly atmosphere, and a much less music-orientated focus. Putting as much focus on the cabaret and the comedy as they do the musicians – featuring names like Sean Locke and Phil Jupitus – Apple Cart shapes up to be a very Sunday-ish Sunday festival indeed. Not that they’re scrimping on the music front, though – legendary acts like Billy Bragg sit on the line up alongside last year’s gut-punch provider Josh T. Pearson. There’s a narrower, more acoustic focus to Apple Cart compared to Field Day, but there’s no less eye for quality. And there’s loads of magicians too.

Sunrise Celebration – by Sebastian O’Dowd

Website / Tickets

Another year passes and festival season is round the corner, which can only mean one thing: making my way down to Bruton in Somerset for Sunrise, known for its green eco-friendly identity. This eco-friendly vision of theirs is inspiring and the return of the Solar Dance Village which runs around the clock just goes to show how well they use this solar power. Kitted out with 6 arenas and 35 venues and stages, one would expect a hefty lineup indeed, and that’s exactly what you get. Mungo’s HIFI will feature Soom T and Mr Williamz, with their reggae riffs accompanied with deep dub, while Laid Blak from Bristol bring a diverse unique sound to the stage – also a must see. The ASBO disco is set up with style and a host of beats and tunes on tap to keep you up all night, and Goodgroove, who is very much one with the funk, also deserves a mention. With a dose of electronica such as The EGG and Gaudi it’s safe to say that if you are in pursuit of happiness and fun you may look no further: Sunrise is the place to be.

We Are Augustines – by Julia Stryj

By Julia Stryj

May 10, 2012

When I first heard about We Are Augustines and their tough past as individuals and the struggle towards the end of their previous band Pela, I was instantly amazed by the band’s determination and passion. Their surprisingly uplifting – considering it deals with a lot of the bumps that were on singer Billy McCarthy’s road – debut album Rise Ye Sunken Ships is constantly being listened to. Driving through the never ending rain to Glasgow to see them on their first proper headline tour since the album’s release in the UK, I find out that the support band is on at 19:45. That means a relaxed dinner is replaced by a quick take away as I don’t want to miss My Goodness.

Before the guys from Seattle come on stage Beastie Boys are played through the sound system, an obvious tribute to MCA. As soon as My Goodness start playing it’s clear to see and hear why the two-piece are compared to The Black Keys. Singer and guitar player Joel Schneider and drummer Ethan Jacobsen are playing raw Blues Rock’n’Roll in an incredibly loud and controlled way, but it’s still a lot livelier than The Black Keys.

It is a very nice touch that We Are Augustines watch their support act from the back of the audience, and I wonder how much longer they will be able to do this with hardly anybody in the audience noticing or recognising them.

The sold out ABC is filling up, which is great considering the gig was initially planned for a smaller venue, before We Are Augustines walk on stage to their ‘Instrumental’ song. They get right into their set, which covers the whole album plus the song Rise Ye Sunken Ships. After the first two songs most of the audience is infected by the band’s passion and soon it isn’t only the choruses that they are singing back.

This seems to give the already highly charged Brooklyn band even more energy for every song, culminating in ‘Book of James’ that singer Billy McCarthy introduces as a happy song even though it deals with the suicide of his brother James. The audience is doing as they are told and sing and dance along to the incredibly powerful song.

Billy, who keeps saying that he does not want the gig to end, is visibly overwhelmed by the reaction they get from the audience. Before he plays a wonderful version of ‘East Los Angeles’ on his own he tells us that we should never give up on anything we are passionate about referring to Eric and him having played for 10 years together and as We Are Augustines for a little over a year.

Rob Allen and Eric Sanderson return back to their instruments to perform their last two energetic songs, finishing off with ‘Chapel Song’. By that time Billy and Eric are continuously at the front of the stage to be closer to the enthusiastic audience and Eric ends up doing his first stage dive, smiling and playing the guitar while the crowd carried him back to the stage. This sparked Rob Allen on into a powerful drum “solo”, accompanied by Billy’s guitar, and Eric on keyboards, turning the 3-minute single into a 6-minute climax of an unforgettable gig.

All photos by Julia Stryj. More of Julia’s work can be found here.

May 6, 2012

A selection of photos from The Subways’ recent show at Edinburgh’s Liquid Rooms. Support on the night came from Royal Republic. All photos taken by Julia Stryj. More of Julia’s work can be found here.

April 28, 2012

A few beautiful snaps from Bombay Bicycle Club’s recent headline show at London’s Alexandra Palace. Support on the night came from Lianne La Havas and Rae Morris. All photos by Alex Kavanagh. More of Alex’s work can be found at http://www.alexkavanagh.com.

By Nick Levine (@nicklevine)

The Camden Crawl this year returns to North London bigger and better than ever. Taking place on the May Day Bank Holiday weekend (4-6 May), with over 300 acts across the spectrum of music, comedy and performance set to perform. The festival takes place across a plethora of different venues, with just one ticket allowing access to all. It’s a great way of sampling some hotly tipped bands and comedians without breaking the bank.

Originally a staple event in the Britpop calendar, the first festival took place in 1995 and mainly showcased small-time indie bands desperate to bag a gig. Since its inception, the festival has become an entirely different entity. The Camden Crawl is now an essential date in the festival calendar, a celebration of Camden’s rich musical and cultural heritage, and is known for showcasing the next big thing, as well as intimate sets by household names. In recent years this has even included Amy Winehouse performing a lager-soaked set at The Dublin Castle.

Part of the charm of the festival is not finding out the exact schedule until the day of the event. Accessing the itinerary on the afternoon of the event normally results in a mad rush to decide where to set up shop for the night, or plotting a strategic route in an effort to optimally catch the best action.

This year some of the new name acts to look out for include the hotly tipped, Heavenly Records-signed Stealing Sheep, the indie electro of Bastille, and nouveau chanteuse Lucy Rose. In terms of more established names, Gaz Coombes of Supergrass will showcase his new solo material, whilst The Futureheads (long term veterans of The Crawl) are likely to perform material from their new acappela album Rant.

Venues are curated by a smorgasbord of record labels and tastemakers including Club Fandango, Drowned In Sound and Last.FM, resulting in a genuine variety of genres. The interactive sessions see Hip Hop Karaoke returning to the Crawl, alongside pop quizzes from Rough Trade and Moshi Moshi Records. If culture is more your bag, Art History In The Pub, are participating by putting on a series of lectures at The Enterprise. One of them is set to be on representations of meat within art, which is surely something Lady Gaga would approve of.

CORNBURY PARK

So you have kids and then you pack away your tent, your lucky festival shorts and your predilection for drunken bean burgers, right? WRONG!

While three kids have eroded my chances (and desire, frankly) to battle the roads to Glastonbury and listen to naive kids talking about society around a campfire, I’m starting to crave the festival feeling.

That constant hum of competing beats in the air, the childish excitement of waking up under canvas, vegetarian food coming out of the wazoo (I’m not vegetarian anymore because I live with carnivorous bloodsuckersbut when in Rome…) and oodles and oodles of live bands.

And so I’m very much looking forward to Wilderness Festival in the beautiful Cornbury Estate Deer Park near the Cotswold village of Charlbury – and for the first time ever, I’ll be taking two of my kids with me (and my husband). That’s a 31-year-old, a nine-year-old and, gulp, a three-year-old.

From the music, to the boutique camping to the – scream! – Wilderness Spa, to the kids’ activities, everything about this is set up for grown-ups and their progeny.

So much thought has gone into what festival-going families look for, and a weekend in a tent with the kids is starting to sound decidedly – surprisingly – peaceful and relaxing.

Our must-sees on the music programme include Mercury Rev, Daniel Johnston, the Guillemots and Anthony and the Johnsons, but to lighten the mood, SHOUT (the rhythym and blues choir) sounds incredible too.

To further set outs its stall as the festival of choice for grown-ups, there is also a programme of speakers and debates, including Tom Hodgkinson from the Idler (hero) and Ian Goldin, the Director of Oxford University’s James Martin 21st Century School who is exploring The Future Fantastic or Frightening? I know, I’m a nerdberger but I love this stuff.

For the kids, there is a whole programme of distraction workshops and activities, and even a boutique babysitting service so that parents can escape to listen to aforementioned music and debate. There are three gastronomic banquets (THREE) each hosted by top chefs and including fine wine and cocktails (£27 per head) and even a flipping opera performance on the theatre programme. Puking in a beer bin at Reading Rock this ain’t.

And I’m so flaming excited!

Wilderness Festival, Cornbury Park, 12 – 14 August, 2011

Single day tickets from £27.50, weekend tickets from £49.50.

See www.wildernessfestival.com for more information and booking.

I almost tire of writing this, because I seem to involuntarily plaster the sentiment everywhere, but: I love Standon Calling. I remain unduly astounded that the place has a fucking swimming pool and hosts a festival-wide fancy dress party of the sort where you feel stupid if you’re not wearing a ridiculously outlandish costume. It almost doesn’t need bands, but check out some of these beauties which they done booked all the same:

Spiritualized
It’s been a pretty long time since Jason Pierce dropped his seminal ‘Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space’, and there’s a wispy misconception that he’s somewhat come off the boil in the meantime. Standon Calling know as well as I do that this is not the case. His most recent album ‘Songs in A&E’ contained slabs of dreamy, scuzzy shoegaze as good as anything he’s ever come out with, and – most importantly of all – his live show remains frankly transcendental. Flanked with gospel singers and powered by layers of murky guitar, Spiritualized are sure to provide an uplifting, engrossing and cinematic climax to a day at Standon Calling.

Battles
With the departure of Tyondai Braxton during the recording of Battles’ sophomore album, many fans needlessly worried that he’d take the band’s fiercely creative spark with him. There was no need to panic, of course, as ‘Gloss Drop’ proved itself to be as fully formed and outlandishly inventive as their debut, albeit in a slightly different way. Battles muscular and manic instrumentals explode into life on the stage, and seeing them at such an exciting, transitional period such as this is an opportunity which shouldn’t be squandered. Continually pushing the envelope and propelling themselves to do more and more with just three musicians, Battles could well turn out to be the weekend’s most dazzling high point.

Saul Williams
For me, Saul Williams gets a free pass for life just for penning the unstoppable List of Demands, but that’s not to say that there’s not way more to recommend him than that single powerhouse of a number. Quietly putting out solid record after solid record, Saul’s newest album is a typically excellent affair, combining smart rhymes and dark beats. As a live act, he performs with a humility all too often absent within hip-hop artists; drawing people into his incredible spoken word with a sense of urgency and powerful dynamic. A true poet, and a frequent hip-shaker to boot – a must see for the weekend.

Sound Of Rum
Operating in a similar vein to Williams, spoken word artist Kate Tempest fronts the fantastic three piece outfit Sound Of Rum. A long time friend of Standon Calling, Sound of Rum combine live beats and guitar lines with Kate’s incredible flow to create an invigorating musical performance combined with engaging narrative and rhymes. Having finally released their debut album earlier this year, Sound Of Rum remain a criminally overlooked but nevertheless well loved – and well respected – act, well worthy of your attention.

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble
If the fact that Hypnotic Brass Ensemble have been publicly acknowledged by Barrack Obama as being his favourite band isn’t enough to make you want to catch their set, then a cursory YouTube search of their live performances should do the trick. Comprised of eight brothers from Chicago (as in the colloquial slang for African Americans, as well as the literal biological relationship) Hypnotic Brass Ensemble are exactly what it says on the tin: an absolutely enveloping groove of powerful brass instrumentals, conflating blues, jazz, soul and energetic rhythm.

Standon Calling takes place in (duh) Standon, which is just north of London in Hertfordshire, on the 12th-14th August.

Basement Jaxx are pleased to announce the release of a new orchestral project that sees them like they’ve never been seen before. In collaboration with the Netherlands’ Metropole Orkest and renowned London conductor and arranger, Jules Buckley, this orchestral project features a full sixty piece orchestra along with a twenty voice choir and sees the Metropole Orkest perform classical and contemporary orchestral versions of the legendary Basement Jaxx back catalogue.

Highlights include instrumental reinterpretations of the Jaxx breakthrough tune, “Red Alert” and 2009’s “Raindrops”, a waltz version of “Bingo Bango”, the Balkan stomper “Hey U” & the haunting ballad “Lights Go Down”, sung by long time Jaxx collaborator, Sharlene Hector.

Produced and orchestrated over the last year by Jules Buckley and Basement Jaxxs’ Felix Buxton and featuring many of the singers from their legendary live shows (including LA’s finest, Lisa Kekaula, on “Good Luck”) the album will also include an original piece, written by Felix, especially for this orchestral project.

The combination of the Metropole Orkest’s cutting edge approach to orchestral interpretation, Basement Jaxx’s uniquely skewed take on dance music and Jules Buckley’s innovative conducting and arranging results in a remarkable soundclash – Basement Jaxx as you’ve never heard them before. (Who’d have imagined hearing a baroque harpsichord playing “Where’s Your Head At” ?)

Below is a short clip of the event – something that I’ve never quite seen before, but want to see a lot more of!

The album is available on release as CD & Digital Download on July 11 2011. You can catch the live show at the Barbican in London on the 14th & 15th July 2011.

The Mercury Music Prize has gained notoriety for showcasing some of the best music in the UK from established players to up and coming acts. Its impressive roaster boasts the likes of Frankie & The Heartstrings, Everything Everything, James Blake, The XX, Wild Beasts, Florence and the Machine… I could continue endlessly. Last Wednesday at The Hospital Club in Covent Garden, we were offered both sides of the coin; the BBC’s Sound of 2011 Jamie Woon and Super Furry Animal’s frontman Gruff Rhys.

After being lead down to the recording studio where we were confronted with an impressive collection of recording equipment – the set was being filmed for a Channel 4 slot in the autumn – and getting our fill of free Stella Artois, it began. Woon was the first to go. Walking on stage to a rapturous applause from us that knew him, Woon wooed us with his instantaneously endearing stage presence; destined for a later witty rapport, he began by thanking us all for being there, showing gratitude for the opportunity.

He opened with the first track of his new album Mirrorwriting, titled ‘Night Air’. Supposed as a dark, sweet and seductive ballad boasting an irresistibly understated combination of Woon’s pliable voice and compulsive beats and atmosphere, the performance disappointingly struggled to collaborate the elements; the bass throbbed in your head as the drums tittered separately, Woon’s lymphatic voice lost adrift.

For a while, Woon followed this thread; a frustrating anti-climax to tracks that have chasms of heart and soul. They seemed empty and hollow; Woon and his seductive voice lost amongst the fumbled and fractured elements. Thankfully, however, the set was not destined to doom. Gaining momentum and confidence, his performance of ‘Lady Luck’, the 3rd track on the new album, was paradisiacal. The pop beat gave the rhombic underbelly it should of offered earlier, demonstrating Woon’s true ability.

The set latested just over an hour, and this evidently helped. Woon was given the capacity to relax into his stride, and what followed was a set of skilled and accomplished performances, brimming with the human emotion that is cornerstone to his new album. ‘Spirits’ was restarted three times, demonstrating Woon’s perfectionist character and professional pride.

By the end, my skin was tingling as ‘Gravity’, the last but one track on the debut Mirrorwriting album, was sung with a passion pulled from the depths of Woon’s soul. The ballad saw him at his finest all evening: the elements fell together, the sky full with atmosphere. Although Woon’s vocals seduced us, I found myself willing him to push a step further, so I could fly off with him. Instead he teased, never falling into full vocal flow. Regardless, he left us with the best performance of the night, and in love with his boy next-door demur.

After a short interval and a 20 minutes loo queue, we were back, this time with Super Furry Animal’s frontman Gruff Rhys. Pushing my way to the front (the room appeared to double in capacity), I found myself behind the compulsory in-love-with-the-frontman drunk girl, who throughout the set screamed her love for Rhys, teetering close to collision with the cameras. The host introduced his ‘personal favourite’, and on popped Rhys, with a band that seemed to comprise of a talented set of bobble hat enthusiasts.

Opening with the Welsh lyric song ‘Gyrru Gyrru Gyrru’, Rhys played the audience like putty in his hands; at his beck and call we hopped to the beat, the girl screaming louder than before. After moving about the stage and tinkering with numerous different instruments, Rhys placed himself centre stage, ready to play ‘Honey All Over’. Here, kneeling on the floor at his keyboard, he sung to us about the sweetness of his sweet. Fluid and full, he left us wanting more.

The highlight of the evening came with what he introduced as a Country and Western song, although I ached to disagree as it sounded more indie on speed. Out came the funkiest indie guitar I’ve seen yet, and so began ‘A House of Mirrors’. What a performance. Ladies and gentlemen, here is a true born performer. Everyone got caught up singing in the chorus, whether they knew the words or not.

Rhys finished alone on stage; just him, his woolly hat and keyboard. Choosing the last song ‘Rubble Rubble’ from his latest album Hotel Shampoo, Rhys feared playing on camera an unrecognisable song to an uninterested audience. To solve the problem, he told us about it. Feeding us the first line, he asked cheekily if we could give rigorous applause when he started to sing it, and so we did. I mentioned putty in hands, didn’t I? The audience ate it up a treat, and we loved him for it.

The maturity of Rhys’ set to Woon’s was unequivocal; undoubtedly the years of experience have taught Rhys well. Each track was fully formed; a hit after hit. However having said that, Woon is onto something; his sweet and seductive sound is something that will see him transgress the niche to mass market, but all he needs now is perhaps a little while longer in the oven.